Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 1806

New COBRA KAI Trailer Reignites THE KARATE KID’s Rivalry

The saga of The Karate Kid will live again, Daniel san! Later this year in Cobra Kai—a new original series from YouTube Red—the tables have turned for Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka), finding the long-heated rivalry thrown on its head. The new trailer picks up 34 years after the film and finds Johnny the underdog, alcoholic failure, and Daniel a karate chopping car salesman and a local celebrity. But it seems like Daniel just can’t resist rubbing Johnny’s face in his All-Valley Karate Tournament victory from when they were teens.

Needless to say, Mr. Miyagi would probably not be proud of Daniel’s choices.



The new full length trailer actually places the focus on Johnny as he becomes the unlikely savior and mentor to a bullied teenager. From there, Johnny is inspired to resurrect the Cobra Kai dojo, which was closed in disgrace decades before. We also get a glimpse of Johnny’s new group of students, including a few girls who may be much better fighters than the boys. Johnny even proudly declares one of the girls to be “a natural cobra.”

For his part, Daniel appears to take the reopening of the Cobra Kai dojo as a personal affront. He even puts on his old karate outfit as if this is a problem he can simply punch and kick away. Somehow, we think Daniel may lack awareness of what he’s become or the way he’s abandoned Miyagi’s philosophy. But it should be fun watching that new conflict play out.

Cobra Kai will premiere on Wednesday, May 2.

What do you think about the new Cobra Kai trailer? Let’s discuss in the comment section below!

Find Balance in These Stories, Daniel san

Is Johnny the real hero of The Karate Kid?
Find out more about Cobra Kai.
And just for kicks, watch John Cena’s Karate Kid/SNL parody.

Images: YouTube Red

“Andy Serkis” Recites Shakespeare in Incredible Real-Time Motion Capture

You’d think by now we’d be so used to the incredible advancements in video games it would be nearly impossible to be truly blown away by any new developments. And yet Unreal Engine 4‘s latest technological breakthrough has left us stunned, because they rendered a hyper-realistic Andy Serkis performing a famous monologue from Macbeth in real time. Real. time. But even beyond that, it’s what they can do with that footage that looks like the future of gaming is already here.



We first saw this incredible footage on Twitter thanks to eSports commenter Alex Mendez. It features Serkis reciting MacBeth’s “Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow” speech with a wide range of facial expressions. The footage—which, again, was created in real time—is nothing short of amazing, both because of how close it captures the nuance of Serkis’ performance, and also because it avoids the dreaded “dead eye” trap of motion capture. This behind-the-scenes video explains how and why this is such a literal game-changer.



That’s what you call the “canny alley.”

According to Unreal Engine, this “breakthrough digital human performance” was made possible by combining their real-time rendering with “3Lateral’s Meta Human Framework volumetric capture, reconstruction and compression technology.”

“The volumetric data was generated by capturing a series of high-quality, HFR images of Andy Serkis from multiple angles under controlled lighting. 3Lateral’s process involved various capture scenarios, some focused on geometry, some on appearance and others on motion. All of these inputs were applied to generate a digital representation of Andy Serkis, and to extract universal facial semantics that represent muscular contractions that make the performance so lifelike.”

As moviegoers well know, seeing Andy Serkis’ actual face is not necessary for some of his best performances, which is why we’re even more excited by what this means for creating realistic looking video game characters of different species, like 3Lateral’s Osiris Black.



Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised by new video game advancements, but it’s impossible not to be stunned by this one. Although we’re not shocked that it involved capturing a great Andy Serkis performance.

What do you make of this new technology? Render your thoughts in our comments section below.

We’ve Got More Clever Tech For Ya!

Check out this fidget spinner rube goldberg machine.
The Navy uses XBox controllers now to run its submarines.
And finally, this robot is very good at basketball.

Featured Image: Unreal Engine

Tessa Thompson Joining Chris Hemsworth for MEN IN BLACK Reboot

Good chemistry is a terrible thing to waste, which is why the folks at Sony are quick to capitalize on one of the best blockbuster screen duos of the past year. Tessa Thompson is joining her Thor: Ragnarok costar Chris Hemsworth in the reboot of the Men in Black series. Thompson’s turn as Valkyrie was a highlight in an already excellent and hilarious superhero movie, and her sparking off of Hemsworth’s Thor was as tasty as if it were made by an Asgardian pizza chef. The news comes to us via <em>The Hollywood Reporter.

The reboot of Men in Black will be directed by Straight Outta Compton and The Italian Job‘s F. Gary Gray and written by the Iron Man screenwriting duo of Matt Holloway and Art Marcum for a June 2019 release. They’re looking to replicate the magic of something like Jurassic World by doing a follow-up to a beloved franchise without needing any of the original lead characters, in this case Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith.

While the 1997 original Men in Black movie was excellent, and introduced the concept of a clandestine agency policing alien activity on the planet earth, using alien tech and neurolizers to keep it under wraps, the following two films left something to be desired, though they performed well at the box office. Clearly there’s a market for big-budget alien-fighting comedy films, and pairing Thompson with Hemsworth goes a long way to solidifying it’ll be full of great repartee.

Are you stoked for more Thompson and Hemsworth? Will Men in Black 4 be the noisy cricket we need? Let us know in the comments below!

Images: Marvel/Sony

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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DRAGON BALL SUPER Movie Teaser Gives Goku His Biggest Battle Yet

Since 1986, fans have watched the adventures of Goku as he grew from a small child to one of the greatest heroes in pop-culture (sure, he dies every other week. Luckily he’s a comic book character, so that means nothing). With this weekend’s finale of Dragon Ball Super, it seemed like we were preparing to see the conclusion of Goku’s story. Toei Animation let us know on Twitter this is certainly not the case with the premiere of the teaser trailer for the Dragon Ball Super movie.

The trailer shows Goku in a snowy landscape with an unknown enemy, both of them preparing for battle. We’re thankful this is a movie and not part of the TV series, otherwise, there would be about three episodes of this preparation. Goku then says with his classic confidence “Well, time to get started,” before charging. The trailer ends with the two combatants doing the now popular “fist bump” pose. Someday, someone is just going to duck and go straight for a body shot.

The animation in the trailer is some of the smoothest that we’ve seen from a Dragon Ball production and we’re super saiyan excited to see what Toei has planned for us. The movie will be released in theaters, but no date has been announced yet. When it is released, you can bet fans will be ready for the next chapter in the Dragon Ball saga.

So what do you think? Are you excited to see what is next for Goku? What has been your favorite Dragon Ball series over the years? Let me know on Twitter @donnielederer or let’s fuse and talk about it in the comments below.

Image: Toei Animation

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The Bizarre True Story Behind Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, and Hannibal Buress’ New Comedy TAG

Do you remember the rush of playing Tag? The sheer thrill in the chase! The jolt of adrenaline as you escaped a friend’s clutch! The crushing shame upon being snagged as “it”! Well, the joys and mayhem of this childhood game will be played out on the big screen in the upcoming action-comedy Tag. Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Hannibal Buress, Ed Helms, and Jake Johnson star as five friends who devote one month a year to a no-holds-bar game of tag where nothing is sacred, and tag-backs are forbidden. But don’t think this story is based on a silly kids game. Tag was actually inspired by the infamous (and willfully silly) “Tag Brothers”: a group of adult men who’ve spent their real lives in a heated, seemingly never-ending competition of tag.

Every February since 1990, the Tag Brothers have played a goofy grown-up version of this children’s game that’s led to cross-country flights, elaborate disguises, episodes of breaking and entering, bombardments in board meetings (and at funerals!), and a by-standing wife ending up with a torn ligament. Not a one of these 10 real-life grown men wanted the shame of being “It” for the 11 off-season months each year. Naturally, this brand of male bonding gone bonkers is the perfect launchpad for comedy.



“A lot of the tags [in the movie] are based on real tags that they actually did,” producer Todd Garner informed Nerdist when we visited the Atlanta set. “Because the truth of this game is often so much weirder than fiction.”

Garner explained the film specifically reenacts the moment that made the Tag Brothers famous. One such Brother, an exec at Nordstrom, was being interviewed by a Wall Street Journal reporter when one of his competitors tore into the corporate setting to ambush and tag him. In the film, Hamm’s stiff Callahan, a character the Mad Men star describes as “taking the piss out of Don Draper a little bit,” is caught off guard in an adaptation of the aforementioned scenario by his pal Hoagie, played by Ed Helms. Gender-swapping the reporter role, Annabelle Wallis plays the flabbergasted interviewer who becomes fascinated with this feisty fraternity and follows them on their last epic season.

“In real life, there’s been tags at births, funerals, inceptions of kids, for real,” Garner said. “One guy was tagged when his wife was going to chemo. It seems awful, but it really just is an excuse for them to come together. So he was in the hospital with his wife, and they came to be around him and support him, and they tagged him.” Garner noted there will be no chemo scene in Tag. However, the wives do get in on the fun as Isla Fisher plays Helms’ better half, who loves the game as much as the guys do.

Helms is the central figure of the film and “the heart and soul of the game,” according to Garner. “He’s a guy who has loved this game, and he’s really been hyper-aware of what the game means to the group and what it does for the guys, that it actually holds these guys together.”

Filling out the group, Jake Johnson plays Chilly, a stoner and recent divorcee who could stand to have his competitive side urged, and Buress plays Sable, whose brushes with this annual tag game have made him so paranoid that he’s turned to therapy. Nerdist got to watch as his session (with a psychologist played by Carrie Brownstein!) is invaded by his overzealous friends. Director Jeff Tomsic was encouraging improvisation on set, so we rarely heard the same punch line twice. But free-for-all comedy isn’t all Tag has in store.

Hamm told us Tag treats the action from the perspective of its players. So scenes where they chase and dodge each other are shot like full-on action sequences. “The movie is like a pretty hard-action movie,” Hamm shared. Naturally, the cast member that leans hardest into these stunt-filled scenes is action star Jeremy Renner.

Loosely based on the Tag Brothers’ most elusive member, Renner pulls from his action hero skills to play Jerry, who Johnson describes as “untouchable” when it comes to the getting tagged. In Tag, Jerry announces this will be his final tag season, so the gang must team up to tag him before he retires undefeated. But Johnson revealed that’s no small feat, as Jerry’s escapes are “Jason Bourne-esque.” Speaking about a church-set sequence, he said, “It’s shot like an action movie but it’s ridiculous. But you’re still watching Jeremy Renner parkour up a wall and jump through a stained glass window.”

The Tag cast has not met the real Tag Brothers, who are in no way involved with the film’s production, but the stars seemed inspired by the brothers’ lust for life, and look to embrace that in Tag. “You know, when I tell people [about] the beginning five minutes of the movie, they’re like, ‘Wait, that really happened?'” Hamm chuckled. “It really happened. People really do this crazy s**t.” But Hamm was quick to point out there’s a core of brotherly love at the center of this story, saying, “I think the fact that it’s based on [the Tag Brothers’] story gives it a little bit of a heart to it. It’s not cynical. It’s very adult, but it’s not cynical at all.”

Tag will hit theaters June 15. Which celebrity would you like to play Tag with? Let us know!

Images: Warner Bros

More movie news!

How Infinity War makes Thanos a compelling villain
Would Justice League have succeeded if Zack Snyder had finished it?
Watch the trailer for this new Mister Rogers doc

Would JUSTICE LEAGUE Have Succeeded if Zack Snyder Finished It?

Justice League has finally left theaters, and it’s officially the lowest grossing film yet in the new DCEU. On today’s Nerdist News Talks Back we discussed if it would have done better if Zack Snyder had finished it, along with the upcoming Mr. Rogers documentary, and the new trailer for Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger.

Guest host Amy Vorpahl was joined today by managing editor Alicia Lutes, producer Jesse Gill, and Nerdist News writer Joey Clift, and they assembled to break down Justice League ranking fifth at the box office for DCEU movies….out of five. “Not great, Batman!” Between this and the upcoming new standalone films Warner Bros. has planned, do they know what they’re doing? Rather than having Joss Whedon finish Justice League, would they had more success if they let Zack Snyder complete his trilogy? And what can they do now to fix everything? A hard reset? Use Flashpoint for a soft one instead? Or just ignore the bad stuff and keep the good?

The internet got emotional today thanks to the new trailer for the Mr. Rogers doc Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Did we visit his neighborhood when we were kids? Do we wish more shows had a positive message? What’s better: straight documentaries or fictional biopics? And is there any other childhood figure who also deserves his or her own doc?

Finally, today we also got a trailer for Marvel’s new Cloak and Dagger series coming to Freeform. What did we like and dislike about it? Do we enjoy these different superhero stories we’re getting across all these different platforms, or are we worn out on superheroes? Do we consider all these Marvel titles to be in the same universe or are they separate in our heads? And are we afraid the studio is spreading itself a little thin now?

Nerdist News Talks Back airs every Monday through Thursday at 1 p.m. PT live on our YouTube and Alpha channels, and we end the week with our hour long recap Nerdist News What the Fridays at 1 p.m. PT, exclusively at Alpha. Join us to talk about the biggest pop culture stories of the day, including the movie’s that weren’t exactly a smashing success.

But we still want to hear from you now, so talk back to us about today’s topics in the comments section below.

Featured Image: Warner Bros.

Why WWE’s “Ultimate Deletion” Made Fans Lose Their Minds

For the past few months, WWE has been treating fans to a steady diet of Matt Hardy vs. Bray Wyatt matches. And if you’ve seen one of their battles, then you’ve pretty much seen them all, until now. On Monday’s episode of Raw, the main event slot was filled by “the Ultimate Deletion,” which may be the wildest thing we’ve seen on WWE in years. What the hell was that? Oh, you’ll find out, because today’s Nerdist News sentences you to deletion. “Delete, delete, delete!”

Join guest host Amy “Woken not Broken” Vorpahl, as she channels the vessel of Matt Hardy to explain the Broken universe. Matt and his brother, Jeff Hardy, were dominate tag-team WWE Superstars over a decade ago before they left for other wrestling promotions. While working at TNA/Impact Wrestling, Matt Hardy began using the “Broken” gimmick, which involved using a hilariously strange accent and bizarre claims about having magic powers and a giraffe with the spirit of George Washington.

We’re not even kidding about it.



Hardy’s “Broken” gimmick was a smash success, but it ended up in legal limbo when he and his brother left Impact Wrestling. It took several months to sort itself out, but now, Broken Matt Hardy is Woken Matt Hardy, and he’s finally giving WWE fans a better glimpse of the new persona he created for himself.



As for Wyatt, his loss to Hardy in the Ultimate Deletion will probably mean the end of his spooky voodoo character who could never quite win a major feud. Will Wyatt revert to a previous persona like Husky Harris? Or could he even join the Hardy bros. as a new Woken character? We’ll probably learn more on next week’s Raw.

What did you think about the Ultimate Deletion? Let’s discuss in the comment section below!

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Image: WWE

Iconic STAR TREK Art Goes Up for Auction for the First Time

Star Trek has been part of the cultural lexicon for half a century now, and back in 2016, “Star Trek: 50 Artists. 50 Years,” made its debut at San Diego Comic-Con. The show, which showcased 50 international artists including Leonard Nimoy, gained international acclaim with over 100,000 fans attending the exhibition during 11 stops through North America, Europe and the Middle East. Now, original works of art featured in the exhibition will be offered to fans for the first time in Heritage Auctions’ Entertainment & Movie Memorabilia Auction on April 15.

According to Giles Moon of Heritage Auctions, “this is the first time a body of work like this has ever been offered at auction at one time. The artworks are marvelous and truly capture how Star Trek’s television programs and films have influenced generations of artists around the world.”  The exhibit’s fine art paintings, sculptures, and photography in the auction include the following:

Nimoy’s photograph titled “Hand In Vulcan Gesture.” Nimoy’s piece is an eerie depiction of Mr. Spock’s Vulcan salute in multi-color. The artwork is particularly poignant as it was contributed only months before his passing.

“The Final Frontier”, an oil on canvas, by Australian Nicky Barkla, that captures the steadfast courage of the crew from the television hit Star Trek: The Next Generation

“Assimilation,” a lighted mixed media sculpture, by Neal Smith, a toy designer for Mattel’s Team Hot Wheels. Smith’s piece represents the starship used by the series’ Borg Collective, but with closer inspection is almost entirely constructed of “assimilated” Hot Wheels toy cars.

“Make it So,” a large scale oil on panel by U.K. artist Paul Oz, employs thick, energetic marks for an up-close portrait of Captain Jean-Luc Picard, portrayed by actor Patrick Stewart on television and in feature films for 15 years. The artwork title references one of the beloved character’s most quotable lines.

Illustrations paying tribute to the franchise’s fan-favorite characters include works by artists like Stanley Chow, an illustrator who is a regular contributor to The New Yorker, who creates an ode to everyone’s favorite Vulcan with  “Teleportation of Mr. Spock.” Also included is Patrick Connan, a French art director and movie poster artist, contributing an encapsulating image of the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, titled “Revenge Is A Dish That Is Best Served Cold,” produced on aluminum. Amy Beth Christensen, a Senior Concept Designer at Lucasfilm Animation, presents “Don’t Believe In No-Win Scenarios,” a portrait gallery of villains and heroes. You can check out images of these pieces down below in our gallery.

For more information on the Heritage Auction “Star Trek: 50 Artists. 50 Years,”, be sure to click here.

What do you think of these amazing pieces paying tribute to Gene Rodennberry’s enduring vision of the future? Be sure to let us know your thoughts down below in the comments.

Images: CBS / Paramount Pictures / Heritage Auctions

More Star Trek? We’ve Got That:

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DRAGON BALL Publisher Reveals the Reason Super Saiyan Hair is Blonde

Within the world of Dragon Ball created by Akira Toriyama, members of the Saiyan alien race can undergo a startling transformation as they draw upon their superpowers. The characters who possess the ability to transform into a Super Saiyan form not only become physically bigger, their hair color always shifts to blonde. Although many hypotheses as to why have floated around for years, one especially persistent theory is that Toriyama was making a commentary about race. It turns out that the real reason is far less complex.

Via Kotaku and the Japanese-language publication Topic News, Weekly Jump editor-in-chief Hiroyuki Nakano made an appearance on Japanese TV and shared the explanation for the hair color change given to him by Toriyama: he just wanted to save time while illustrating the art. Toriyama didn’t enjoy coloring in the hair, as it added to his workload. So he simply left the hair uncolored in the original black and white manga, which was translated to blonde hair in subsequent color renditions and in the animated adaptations.



That explanation may not have any deeper meaning, but it makes perfect sense. Illustrating manga and comic panels is a very time-consuming process, and Toriyama simply took a shortcut to shave away some of his excess work. It ended up being a strong visual choice, as the blonde hair of the Super Saiyan forms are unmistakable and iconic. We can’t picture Dragon Ball without them!

What do you think about the genesis of the Super Saiyan hair color? Let’s discuss in the comment section below!

Feature image: Bandai Namco/Shueisha

Read more in our next exciting post about… Dragon Ball Z!

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STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Gets a 2-Minute LEGO Mini Film

The Last Jedi, with a run time of two hours and 32 minutes, is the longest Star Wars movie ever, so it’s not surprising that some fans, including even those who loved it, said it was a little too long. Well, if you’re someone who thought it could have been tightened up in a few spots, we have just the version for you. It’s not a special director’s cut or even a fan-edit, it’s the official LEGO edition. And it manages to include all of the most important plot points while cutting off roughly two hours and 30 minutes from the film.



This succinct LEGO recap does a better job of summarizing the movie than anything else we’ve seen, but that means making some tough choices to create such a slimmed down edition of the movie. Unfortunately, this version omits important characters like Poe Dameron, General Leia, Benicio Del Toro’s DJ, and Laura Dern’s Admiral Holdo, as well as great sequences like the opening bomber run and the hyperdrive splitting of the First Order ship.

However that also means that we’re not subjected to every part of Rose and Finn long quest to find the Master Code Breaker, seeing Luke drink green milk straight from a monster’s teat, and ignoring child slaves so “giant dog camels” could be freed.

We thought The Last Jedi could have cut a couple of minutes from a few spots, but we didn’t think it could be cut all the way down to two minutes. Don’t get us wrong; we don’t prefer this shorter cut, it just makes us want a LEGO version of the entire movie.

What important person or scene do you think should have made the cut here? Tell us in the comments below what you would have included.

Images: Star Wars

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